Corporate Advocacy Program: The best way to manage and repair your business reputation. Hiding negative complaints is only a Band-Aid. Consumers want to see how businesses take care of business. All businesses will get complaints. How those businesses take care of those complaints is what separates good businesses from bad businesses.

So my check engine light goes on the other day. I take it my KIA
dealer and they say it's code 90011 - Camshaft positioning sensor error.
They tell me that there is a "KIA Bulletin" out about non-oem oil
filters causing this error and that I should only be using oem filters.
So, they change my oil and put on the new oem filter. They then tell me
that should fix the problem, but if light comes back on to bring it back
in. I left excited the light was off, and then I am not kidding - 1.3
miles later on the freeway home, all hell breaks loose in my engine! It
threw a rod and oil spewed out everywhere.

So, I towed it back. They told me how sorry they are. I tell them I
still have 5k miles left in warranty. They tell me I need to show proof
of all oil changes and bring them the receipts. I can only track down 9
oil changes for the last 5 years. I methodically changed the oil every
4k miles, many of them i did myself. Did I think to save the walmart
receipts for oil and filters? NOPER.

Long story short, they denied my claim for the following reasons: 1.
There is a "Kia Bulletin" that came out recently that says I should have
only been using OEM KIA Filters and I did not. 2. I could not produce
enough receipts to prove that between self oil changes and otherwise
were done every 3k miles.

Even if I did get the receipts, they don't sell KIA OEM filters at walmart or autozone, big o, etc.

So I am left with $7k still owing on a car that needs a $5200 engine. God Bless South Korea!

P.S.S. when the dealer first change my oil, they said the oil was really quite clean and could tell I take care of the engine!!

Corporate Advocacy Program: The best way to manage and repair your business reputation. Hiding negative complaints is only a Band-Aid. Consumers want to see how businesses take care of business. All businesses will get complaints. How those businesses take care of those complaints is what separates good businesses from bad businesses.

AUTHOR: Larry - (U.S.A.)

SUBMITTED: Sunday, November 25, 2012

POSTED: Sunday, November 25, 2012

You have one of the best bad workmanship claims I have ever seen.

KIA held themselves and their dealer out to be experts in repairing your car. Your car's computer reported a problem with the camshaft timing, which would suggest to any experienced mechanic a problem with the timing belt, timing chain, or associated components such as a tensioner.

Instead of inspecting and repairing the problem area, the service manager discounted what your car's computer reported and instead insisted that the code was faulty and that the real problem was the oil filter. He claimed, and probably without proof, that KIA had issued a service bulletin that faulty oil filters were causing false computer trouble codes.

Based on his representation to you that he was an expert in this matter and in possession of information available only to KIA service personnel, you allowed him to perform the repair he claimed your car needed instead of performing the repairs the computer indicated were needed. One point three miles after leaving the dealership your engine exploded under circumstances consistent with a faulty timing belt and inconsistent with oil starvation.

You relied on KIA's representation that the dealer was an expert, you relied on your dealer's representation that the service manager was an expert, and you relied on the service manager's own representation that he was not only an expert but an expert in possession of specialized technical information. You relied on the collective representations of those parties to your detriment and now your vehicle has been rendered worthless through no fault of your own.

AUTHOR: Larry - (U.S.A.)

SUBMITTED: Monday, November 19, 2012

POSTED: Monday, November 19, 2012

Your dealer told you the check engine light was on due to a faulty camshaft positioning sensor. He then says that the problem is your oil filter is not OEM. This is nonsense. The problem that caused the light to come on was most likely a timing belt ready to fail.

If there was a problem with oil or oil pressure or oil distribution within the engine, your motor should have been knocking. If it did not sound like a Diesel, there was no oil problem.

When your engine failed 1.3 miles later one of two things are most likely: If it really was a thrown rod, you would have heard knocking due to lack of oil. If there was no oil after an oil change, then the technician forgot to put the oil in (it happens). The engine should have been knocking so badly that you would not even have left the dealership. If the engine has not been disassembled, check the oil level on the dipstick.

Since you did not report knocking, it is more likely that your timing belt failed. I am not familiar with KIA engines but on some makes a belt failure can be catastrophic while on others its a fairly simple matter of just putting on a new belt.

I bet the story about the thrown rod came from the dealer, didn't it? How would you know the difference between a failure due to a thrown rod and a failed belt? Tow your car to another mechanic for a second opinion.

Your dealer was so fixated on selling you that OEM oil filter that he failed to respond correctly to the problem that your car's computer told him about. Take that service adviser out and shoot him before he causes more damage to anyone else. Had he responded correctly to the camshaft positioning sensor problem, he would have installed a new timing belt and you would have a running vehicle.

Corporate Advocacy Program: The best way to manage and repair your business reputation. Hiding negative complaints is only a Band-Aid. Consumers want to see how businesses take care of business. All businesses will get complaints. How those businesses take care of those complaints is what separates good businesses from bad businesses.